“Book of Songs is inspired by Western styles but has Eastern beginnings. A blurry bridge of East and West. It contains the female inner dialogue and ponders over the imagery of home and heritage.This is a background story, my pop symphonic tone poem.”
Book of Songs is the album Sophie has always wanted to make; a thrilling and unpredictable fusion of styles. A splendour of pop songs where East meets West, influenced by Chinese poetry and Western classical music.
Produced by the revered J Walker (Machine Translations, Paul Kelly), hear Sophie navigate through her childhood days. From Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand to her Triple J Unearthed days in Darwin. This exquisite new body of work is a revealing look into home and identity, sparked by her recent tour to China.
“It’s a bit of a homecoming for me.” Sophie says. “Going back to my classical piano training, marrying it with my love of pop, with a sprinkling of my ethnicity for the first time.” "Feels like it's taken 3 albums to finally get to THIS one".
The album even features Sophie singing two songs in Mandarin. She co-wrote ‘Ta De Mei’ (‘Her Beauty’ 她的美). And ‘Gan Lan Shu’ (‘Olive Tree 橄榄树) is a song Sophie remembers her parents singing at karaoke. “Don’t ask me where I’m from,” Sophie sings. “I’m from far away.”
“When people ask me where I’m from, I can’t answer. I say, ‘What do you mean? Where I was born? My ethnicity? Where I live now? Or where my heart is?’”
More info: Press Kit
Quick Facts
She won Triple UnEarthed in 2003 whilst living in Darwin, with her song Easily Broken
She has made numerous TV appearances, including Rockwiz, Spicks&Specks and Neighbours
Won Best Contemporary Song at Independent Music Awards for her song I Understand (co-writers Ben Lee & Brad Wood)
Won Best Female Artist at The Age Music Awards
Sophie played the lead role at Sydney Festival’s world premiere of Shanghai Mimi in 2019
Finalist in 2019’s Melbourne Music Prize (Beleura Emerging Composers Award)